‘Nigerian scams’ keep evolving

Bob Sullivan Technology correspondent • Profile • E-mail

The most familiar Nigerian scam is an e-mail offering lots of free money in exchange for helping someone with a name like Barrister Richard Okoya. The offer varies, but the theme is the same — help a downtrodden victim recover a large sum of money trapped in an overseas bank, and you will be rewarded handsomely.

For most, the e-mails are the butt of jokes and evoke a "Who would ever fall for that?" reaction. 

You'd be surprised, says Dale Miskall, supervisory special agent in charge of an FBI cybercrime squad in Birmingham, Ala.  He's been working Nigerian scams for the Internet Fraud Complaint Center for years; in January, he went to Nigeria to testify against suspects after a rare arrest.

There are now so many flavors of Nigerian scams, they are harder and harder to recognize, he said. Many even avoid the trademark details: the barrister, the overseas bank, or even the typical up-front wire payment.

"(Nigerians) are just great at social engineering. They keep finding new victims," Miskall said.  "And Americans are very gullible."

There are plenty of variations on the traditional scam. Nigerians apparently keep up with the news. In 2001, instead of a Nigerian barrister, the missing money belonged to an Iraqi national, persecuted under Saddam Hussein. The year before, it was family of victims of the Concorde plane crash.  Earlier this year, it was a tsunami victim; then, a U.S. solider killed in Iraq during the war on terror.  Anything to get an edge, or to catch victims with their guard down.

"This really is one of the worst e-mail scams we've ever seen, targeting the families of American soldiers killed in Iraq," said Michael Garcia, an assistant secretary with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, about the Iraq solider e-mail. "This is really despicable."

Can’t count on cashier’s checks
But Nigerian scams stretch far wider than e-mails asking for help moving money out of international accounts. In a much more elaborate version of the crime, scammers participate in legitimate online auctions, finish with the high bid, and send along a check to pay for the winnings.

Fraud resources National Fraud Information Center Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (Nigeria) U.S. Secret Service: 419 alert U.S. State Dept.: Nigerian advance fee fraud (pdf) The 419 Coalition Web site FBI Internet Fraud Complaint Center FCC: Internet Relay Service and Issues Alert

The payment often arrives as a cashier's check,  thought to be good as cash by many U.S. residents. It's not.

The criminal sends more than the winning amount and asks for some to be wired back. When victims apparently successfully deposit the cashier's check, they figure the buyer is legit, and wire the overage, often to a bank account in Nigeria.  Weeks later, the bank discovers the cashier's check is bogus, and the depositor is responsible for the missing funds. Often, the victim is out both the merchandise and the money.

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